


'cause i'm a supernova (and you're my four leaf clover)

by adverbialstarlight



Category: Raven Cycle - Maggie Stiefvater
Genre: AKA, Alternate Universe - Flower Shop, Alternate Universe - Flower Shop & Tattoo Parlor, Alternate Universe - Tattoo Parlor, Basically, Fluff, Getting Together, Language of Flowers, Love Confessions, M/M, Mutual Pining, POV Ronan Lynch, Pining, Ronan Lynch Loves Adam Parrish, Spring Vibes, Swearing, TRC Spring Fling 2020, all over the fucking place
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-01
Updated: 2020-05-01
Packaged: 2021-03-01 17:07:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,451
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23950549
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/adverbialstarlight/pseuds/adverbialstarlight
Summary: Ronan, owner of Cabeswater Florals, is enchanted by one particular artist from Fox Way Tattoo and Tarot down the street. I sure wonder who.aka, a flower shop/tattoo shop au for the TRC spring fling exchange.
Relationships: Minor or Background Relationship(s), Ronan Lynch/Adam Parrish
Comments: 17
Kudos: 201
Collections: TRC Spring Fling





	'cause i'm a supernova (and you're my four leaf clover)

**Author's Note:**

  * For [tinyarmedtrex](https://archiveofourown.org/users/tinyarmedtrex/gifts).



> happy spring yall (well, as happy as it can be while the world's all out of wack lol), this is a gift for the insanely talented [Amelia](https://tinyarmedtrex.tumblr.com/) in the trc spring fling! gotta admit it was intimidating to write this since i absolutely adore her fics but i think it turned out pretty well. i hope you like it <3
> 
> shout out to [Lise](https://galwaygremlin.tumblr.com/) for the beta, to kirani, aurum, and cashew for running this event, and all time low for ~~being my favorite band~~ their song [Glitter and Crimson](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aBhgqoBnmZo) which the title is from.

The start of a new season was always a lucrative time for Cabeswater Florals. Businesses ordered large shipments of new vibrant flowers of colors matching the current aesthetic and tipped decently upon delivery. Engaged couples bought mountains of bouquets and arches, centerpieces, and aisle petals. They poured into the store with requests about color, aesthetic, and implication.

But then they called, or went into the store, and came face to face with Ronan Lynch.

People often remarked that they were surprised that _someone like him_ was working in a flower shop of all places, and especially in a position of customer service. They were usually met with a glare, or occasionally a “get the fuck out of my fucking store,” and rarely returned.

And yet, there was one person who always did without fail.

The bell above the door chimed as Adam Parrish stepped inside Cabeswater, a messenger bag slung across his chest and a brown leather jacket slung over his arm. He grinned when he saw Ronan at the counter and strode over.

“Ronan,” Adam said, coming up to stand in front of the counter. The early morning sun seeping through the windows made his hair shine like gold, his tired eyes the sparkling sea. His eyes were tired, probably up all night planning something for a client again, but he was sharp as ever.

“Parrish,” Ronan greeted him, trying to shove down the dizziness brought on by that goddamn smile.

It was something that had been happening a lot lately, when Adam walked into Cabeswater or they passed each other on the street. When Ronan did an in-person delivery to Fox Way Tattoos and Tarot and Adam would look up from his work, even just for a moment, and smile at him. When Adam caught him staring just a bit too long, and when their fingers brushed as Ronan handed over another bouquet of lilies Adam requested for Blue, back when they were together.

Ronan wasn’t an idiot, he knew what it meant. But that didn’t mean he had to _like_ it. Having a crush on Adam was inconvenient. It was a problem.

There were too many common friendships to avoid seeing him, too little impulse control in Ronan to stop himself from watching his elegant hands and thinking about pressing them to his lips.

And Adam was far too insightful and clever to not see it, to not know about the love that practically bled from Ronan’s every pore. But he did nothing about it. He only smirked when he caught Ronan’s eye and continued on as always, as if there was nothing there.

And there was nothing there, how could there ever be? Ronan had come to this realization long ago, he tried to pretend it no longer hurt to remember. He pushed his thoughts away.

“Maura wants some new flowers for the vase up front,” Adam said, tattooed hand coming up to wave in the air. Ronan’s eyes tracked the movement instantly. “Something more lively so people will actually come in and all. You have any suggestions?”

“Is it not already lively in there? I think seances are always very fucking riveting,” Ronan remarked.

Adam swatted him lightly with the pen sitting on the counter. There was a plastic sunflower duct taped to it and the petals scratched at Ronan’s cheek. “We don’t do seances, Lynch. Not for the public, anyway.”

Ronan snorted, trying not to notice how Adam was leaned over the counter, his nose practically brushing Ronan’s. He was very, very close. Ronan tried not to think too much about that. He turned away from Adam and grabbed the binder holding the store’s flower index. “Yeah, whatever. I can grab a few samples here and you can take them back to Maura to see which ones she wants. I’m not sending a whole fucking bundle only to be told it failed her vibe check or whatever again.”

“Her vibe check?” Adam asked, amused. “What are you, fifteen?”

“Well at least I’m not the loser who’s still in school,” Ronan fired back.

“It’s grad school, and the only reason you’re not is because you decided to drop out of high school,” Adam said, huffing a laugh. “You’d have been perfectly capable if you wanted to. Anyway, yeah that’s fine.” He paused, then, tilting his head said, “Unless you want to come with? I’m about to head over for the day anyway.”

Ronan tried not to show his surprise. A feeling of warmth filled his chest at the thought of walking over with Adam, getting a few minutes alone with him that were not under the cover of business transactions.

_It doesn’t mean anything_.

He shrugged coolly, hands shoved into his pockets to stop the urge to fidget. “Oh. Sure, I don’t really have anything better to do anyway. Let me grab the shit.” With that he hopped over the countertop, narrowly missing Adam with his foot as he did, and started over to some of the single flowers.

“Your professionalism never fails to amaze me,” Adam said dryly.

Ronan could practically hear him rolling his eyes. He grinned over his shoulder and grabbed a stem of alfalfa, shaking off the water towards Adam in a not-so-subtle way. “But of course.”

He turned back to the flowers, scanning the selection, and picked a few others with confidence. Ronan had been working in here since he was a boy, he’d be damned if he couldn’t pick out a few fitting flowers to liven up a New Age-y tattoo shop.

At the last moment, Ronan paused near the tulips. _Fuck it_ , he decided, and grabbed a white one, silently laughing at his own tragic joke as he tossed it to Adam. “That one too. I’ve got no hands left, you carry it.”

“You always have such a way with words,” Adam said dramatically, taking the flower between his fingers. “Would it hurt you to ask kindly?”

Ronan pushed open the door of the shop and put the few flowers between his teeth as he locked up and stuck the “Be back soon” sign on the door. When he turned back to Adam, there was a strange expression on his face as he stared at Ronan. Almost through him, really. Ronan ignored it and shrugged, holding the flowers again. “Abso-fucking-lutely.”

They walked down the street together side by side. Adam didn’t move away from Ronan if he moved in close to avoid a person walking in the opposite direction. He grinned even as he rolled his eyes whenever Ronan said something crude, sniping right back without any hesitation. The tulip was held carefully between his elegant fingers, bright in the late April sunshine as Adam held it close to his chest. Like it was something important, something he didn’t want to lose.

He realized he’d been zoning out of whatever Adam had been saying about an old lady who came into Fox Way for a tarot reading the other day and instead to just _stare_ at him like a fucking moron. There was a furrow between Adam’s brows, analyzing and concerned at the same time as he searched Ronan’s face.

“You alright?” Adam asked quietly as Ronan came back to himself and pulled away.

Ronan averted his gaze, silently mortified. “Yep. Let’s just keep going, I’m fine.”

He snuck a glance back at Adam. Adam was already looking back. He looked like he wanted to say something, but instead looked back down to the flower in his hand then ahead. “Okay, it’s just at the end of the street here.”

“Right,” Ronan said. He quickened his pace as the crosswalk signal began to blink red, partially to make it across the street and partially so he didn’t have to look at Adam any longer.

This was the worst part of being aware that you had a crush on someone. Even if you were the best fucking emotion represser in the world, it all went out the window once you had that moment of _oh, that’s why I kind of feel nauseous when I’m around that person_. After that moment, Ronan became unable to keep his cool around Adam.

He found himself staring, pondering what Adam was doing during the day and fantasizing what he might do if Ronan showed up one day with lunch for him while he was undoubtedly overworking himself. There was an incessant _nervousness_ that got annoying pretty quickly and made absolutely no sense. Why the fuck did he care whether Adam liked the fucking shirt he was wearing today, it’s not like it mattered.

Ronan felt like he was thirteen, and it was kind of awful.

At last they approached Fox Way, Ronan let out a small sigh. He went to open the door but Adam got there first and he pulled his hand back quickly. This was not some bullshit rom-com movie. “Thanks,” he said and stepped inside, Adam right behind him.

Blue was sitting perched on the front counter with a sketchbook when they walked in. “Hey Adam, how was the flower shop?” she started, teasingly. “Did you stop being a coward and finally—”

She trailed off when she looked up and saw Ronan, surprised. Quickly, she shut her mouth, giving Adam an indecipherable look. When she caught Ronan’s questioning stare, she raised an eyebrow. Adam remained silent by his side. Strange.

“Maggot,” Ronan greeted Blue. “Where’s your mom, I’ve got some fucking flowers.”

“She and Calla are doing a reading right now, you can just toss them over here,” Blue said, nodding to the counter. “What do you have for us today?”

Ronan tossed the stems he’d been carrying onto the counter. Adam moved to put the tulip down as well, but before he could, Ronan began his spiel of pointing at each flower and explaining its meaning and care and shit. He did not look at Adam through any of it.

“What’s this one again?” Blue asked, pointing to one of the indigo flowers. Ronan had a suspicion she was asking because it kind of looked like one of the pom pom barrettes in her hair.

“Globe Amaranth,” he recited. “Those fuckers represent immortality and longevity and shit. Unfading love.”

Blue hummed. “Interesting,” she said. After a few moments of looking over all the flowers again, she set aside ten different flowers and pushed the rest of them back at Ronan. “Pretty sure these are the best types Mom is going for, you can have these ones back.”

Ronan shrugged, scooping up the flowers. “Parrish,” he said to Adam, who had wandered back over to his usual tattoo station.

There were neat stacks of paper all over the desk, his inking supplies put away in a fishing tackle box, and his master’s degree framed on the wall. It was always amusing to see there, so out of place with the dark, intricate artwork and rock band posters all around, but that was quintessentially Adam Parrish.

Adam looked up from the sketchbook he’d been flipping through and walked back over. Ronan was quietly satisfied that the white tulip was still in his hand rather than on his desk or even in the trash. He gave the rest of the flowers to Adam. “Here.”

“What am I supposed to do with these?” Adam asked, amused.

Ronan shrugged. “I dunno. Braid a fucking flower crown, they just can’t go back into the display. You’ll probably think of something.”

“A flower crown, huh?” Adam asked, amused. “Why would I do that when you can just do this?” He stepped forward and plucked a Hibiscus from the bundle of flowers. Then, before Ronan could process what he was doing, Adam stepped close and tucked the flower behind his ear. Grinning and noticeably remaining in place, Adam said dryly, “There, stunning.”

Ronan snorted. “Damn fucking straight.”

There was a long moment of silence where the two of them just stared at each other, entranced. Adam’s eyes were a vibrant, clear blue, beautiful as azul inked forget me nots. They bore into Ronan’s own with an intensity Ronan wasn’t quite familiar with seeing from Adam, definitely not towards him.

Ronan opened his mouth to say something— what exactly, he wasn’t sure, but it was probably stupid— but the moment was broken as Maura and Calla came back out with their client. The beaded curtain crackled as they hit the plaster, and Adam took a large step away from Ronan to greet his boss.

“Hello ma’am, Ronan brought some samples for the vase,” he told her.

“The snake has returned,” Calla said, amused. She noticed the hibiscus behind Ronan’s ear, the near bouquet carefully held in Adam’s hands, and hummed. Ronan stiffened. Calla was not known to have a filter and she could be quite unpredictable. Luckily for him, she only grinned sharply and said, “I see.”

She began to discuss payment with the customer and Maura moved towards the counter to examine the flowers that had passed Blue’s inspection. “These are lovely, Ronan, thank you so much for coming by.”

Ronan shrugged. “No worries. Parrish asked and I didn’t really have anything else to do, so I mean.”

“He did?” Blue inquired, a small smirk beginning to form on her lips.

Adam cleared his throat. “Yes, well. I’ll see you around Ronan, I’ve got some work to do.” He nodded towards his desk a bit apologetically.

“Right,” Ronan said. “Later, Parrish.”

Adam went back to his desk and immediately engrossed himself with something in his sketchbook, and Ronan and Maura began to discuss flower quantities and prices. It took them maybe ten minutes at most and then Ronan was leaving the shop.

Before he went, because he was very, very weak, Ronan let himself glance back over to Adam one last time. Adam held his gaze before looking back down at his work, biting his lip. Ronan turned around and exited Fox Way to head back to Cabeswater.

The rest of the day passed by easily. There weren’t too many obscure customers to deal with today and Ronan got the vase bouquet for Fox Way finished in less than five minutes. He’d let Noah deliver it tomorrow, his friend always bitched about not being useful enough around here anyway.

Just before seven thirty, the bell above the shop chimed. Ronan had been counting the mini pots and called out, “Hey. We’re about to close so I dunno if you wanna— Parrish.” He looked up, head tilting slightly.

Adam was standing in the doorway, once again framed by the glow of the dim sunlight but this time holding a single flower in his hand. Ronan stared for a few seconds, blinking.

“What’re you doing here, man?” he asked finally. “Did Maura change her mind about the flowers or something?”

“No, not that,” Adam said. “I actually came to ask you something.” He came closer, and Ronan saw that he’d been holding the white tulip.

Ronan raised an eyebrow, keeping his calm expression despite the sudden increase of his heart rate. Had he found out? “Alright, shoot.”

Adam held the flower up, examining it for a moment then looking at Ronan. “A white tulip. You obviously didn’t actually want it to be part of Maura’s selection. What does it mean?”

Ronan studied his face. Adam’s shoulders were set stiffly, in the way they did when he was pulling all the courage he could out of his ass to do something completely and utterly terrifying. His eyes were unwavering, barely any curiosity there, just the gleam of a scientist watching with hawk-like intensity to see if his hypothesis was correct.

“I think you already fucking know what it means,” Ronan said. “You’ve got Google.”

“Yes,” Adam agreed easily, “I do. But I want you to say it out loud. Tell me.”

Ronan sighed. He scratched the back of his neck. Well shit. Looking down at the floor then back at Adam then the tulip, he muttered, so quiet he hoped Adam wouldn’t hear, “Love. One-sided. That shit.”

Adam heard him, because of fucking course he did. Instead of leaving or frowning or launching into a half-assed rejection— or even all of the above— as Ronan had expected, a small smile broke across Adam’s face. It was soft and reluctant, hopeful as he met Ronan’s eyes. “And that was for me?”

Ronan shrugged minutely, embarrassed. He was completely thrown off guard and had no idea what to expect from Adam next. Whatever he’d been picturing, it was not Adam walking over to the tulips and carefully pulling out a bright red one.

“You know,” he said as he walked back over to Ronan, “when I did my Google search I got some results on some more flower language stuff.”

“Yeah?” Ronan said, voice cracking. He internally winced, but continued, “What’d it say, then?”

Adam came around the shorter side of the counter and stopped right in front of Ronan, barely centimeters apart. His smile softened even more as he set the white flower onto the counter and shrugged in false nonchalance. “That if you wanna tell the guy you’re into that you like him, give him a red tulip.” Then, as he had earlier in the day with a hibiscus, Adam lifted his hand and placed the stem behind Ronan’s ear. He didn’t step back, hand lingering near Ronan’s jaw.

“Oh,” Ronan breathed. “Is that true?”

“I swear it on my inking machine and useless degree,” Adam whispered.

Warm air fanned over Ronan’s face and he fought the urge to close the rest of the space between them at last, waiting for whatever Adam had to say next. As he swallowed, Adam’s eyes briefly followed the motion before he looked back up.

“Tell me I’m right. That this is what you meant, and I’m not looking at this all the complete wrong way,” Adam said, eyes searching and fingertips light. “That you want me just as much as I want you.”

Ronan let out a quick breath, one he’d been holding since Adam walked into the goddamn shop. He’d never been one for elaborate words, more a man of action, so instead of replying, he finally leaned in and kissed Adam.

His lips were chapped, but soft as Ronan had always guessed them to be, full and parted as they brushed Ronan’s. That first kiss was short and sweet, gentle and unsure. Immediately after, Ronan pulled back slightly, searching Adam’s eyes as they fluttered open.

“Adam,” he said quietly. “Is this okay?”

Adam nodded. “More than,” he replied.

And then they were kissing again, Ronan now leaned back against the counter and Adam’s hands on his face, his neck, his shoulders. The tulip had fallen from behind Ronan’s ear and onto the floor, but neither of them really cared. Adam kissed Ronan with the all-consuming fiery passion and devotion he put towards everything important in his life— his degree, his pride, and now, Ronan. It was dizzying. Ronan had always hoped, secretly, but now it was real, this was happening.

Eventually they pulled apart again, breathing heavy and eyes wide. Ronan twirled a short strand of Adam’s hair around his pinky, face aflame as he said, “Oh. Cool.”

Adam looked bemused. He raised an eyebrow. “Cool?”

“Yes, Parrish, cool.”

Adam’s laugh was light, and he leaned into Ronan again. “Okay then, cool.”

“Cool.”

There was a beat of silence then Adam asked casually, as if requesting some more mashed potatoes, “So, you wanna kiss me again?”

Ronan did not hesitate.

* * *

It’d been three years since that fateful day in Cabeswater, and Ronan made what was possibly one of the biggest decisions of his life. He cried, Adam cried, fucking everyone cried when they found out.

Given their professions, rings were not an ideal piece of jewelry. Ronan didn’t see the point if he had to take it off every single fucking day, and _well what if I fucking lose it, huh Parrish_?

Adam had rolled his eyes and suggested approximately five other solutions, but in the end they made a compromise made up of two parts.

The first: two identical golden chains with a ring and a house key strung on, long enough to rest just over both men’s hearts. Ronan often brushed his hand along it afterwards with a fond grin, bewildered every single time, even after so long.

The second: a small tattoo on the inside of their left hand ring fingers, two red tulips intertwined and in bloom. They were hard to see if you didn’t know they were there, and late at night Ronan loved to take Adam’s hand to his lips and press a kiss there in silent worship.

He wouldn’t have had it any other way.

**Author's Note:**

> that's a wrap yall. took 3 rewrites to make this fully likable but the flower/tat shop au is super fun so i guess it's ok. thanks so much for reading and i hope you liked it, especially amelia, and have a great day/night/whatever
> 
> if you want, catch me on [twitter](https://twitter.com/adverbialnouns) or [tumblr](http://adverbialstarlight.tumblr.com)


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